Pan Am Series – Part XLVIV – Pan Am’s 90th Anniversary Book

8 February 2017 Leave a comment

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Ninety years ago, Pan American Airways was modestly launched with a contract to fly the U.S. Mail from Key West to Havana, Cuba. This year, friends and supporters of Pan Am will commemorate this landmark event with the publication of a special 90th Anniversary volume that looks back at the history of the airline that helped mold the international commercial airline industry of today.

Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer is being published by the Pan Am Historical Foundation (PAHF). A true collector’s item, this commemorative hard cover edition measuring ten and a half by twelve and a half inches will be the perfect coffee-table book and will feature a colorful dust jacket. It will contain more than 80 stories written by former Pan Am employees and international media friends who had personal experience with many of Pan Am’s key events during its history.

The anthology will recount the history of Pan Am from its first flight to its very last. It will be illustrated with more than 300 images, many in full color, from a variety of sources including the Pan Am Historical Foundation’s unique photo library. It will also include posters, promotional brochures, timetables and baggage tags, the very essence of our industry.

This book can be purchased on eBay at https://www.ebay.com/itm/184289917388 or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692820450/

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am Tagged with Airline History, Airlines, Aviation, Juan Trippe, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, transportation

Pan Am Series – Part XLVIII: Skygods

15 February 2015 7 Comments

Skygods

pan-am-boeing-314-dixie-clipper-nc18605-630-620x413

Sky-god \ski-god\: a being who reigns supreme while aloft in man-made flying contrivance 2: an aeronautical creature endowed with godlike attributes and worthy (in his or its own estimation) of human worship

On 14 January 2015, former Pan American captain Gerry Mahan celebrated his 100th birthday. Captain Bill Nash, whose story about flying the Boeing 314 was featured in Part II of this series, is in his late 90s. Both men started with Pan American near the beginning of World War II and stayed with the airline until into the 1970s. Both got their feet wet with Pan American as pilots in the Boeing 314, the last of the great flying boats. There were others who flew these great machines that also included the Sikorsky S-38, S-40 and S-42, the Consolidated Commodore and the Martin M-130: R.O.D. Sullivan, Leo Terletsky, Steve Bancroft. Ed Schultz, Bob Ford, who flew the first round-the-world flight in a commercial airliner and Edwin Musick, probably the most famous of the flying boat pilots, who flew the first trans-Pacific scheduled airmail flight in the China Clipper. These men were known as “Skygods” and today they are few and far between.

On the occasion of his 100th birthday Captain Mahan was the subject of an article by Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury News. An excerpt follows:

“Born in Kansas on Jan. 14, 1915, Mahan was raised by his grandmother until he ran away at the age of 13 — about a year after Charles Lindbergh gained international fame for completing the first solo flight from New York to Paris.

“‘The freight trains were running in my direction,’ Mahan joked.

“He settled in Southern California and lived with his aunt. He sold shoes to put himself through UCLA. By age 18, he owned his first plane, his daughter, Luana Davis, 72, said. He flew for TWA before joining Pan Am in 1941. He flew everything from DC-3s to 747s, retiring out of San Francisco in the mid-1970s. He taught his oldest daughter, Luana, how to fly when she was just 11. She spent her career flying for Federal Express.

* * *

“‘It was one hell of a great experience,’ said Mahan, who lives with a caregiver in his hilltop home, with views of the Mineta San Jose International and Reid-Hillview airports, where he once owned as many as a dozen private planes and taught one of his daughters how to fly. ‘It was a magnificent life. If I had to do it all again, I’d do it the same way.’

“At a time well in advance of modern navigation aids or weather forecasting, he remembers flying over the Pacific in a Boeing 314 Clipper no higher than 8,000 feet to keep oxygen for the passengers in the cabin. Sometimes he flew as low as 1,000 feet, he said. Navigating by both the stars and the waves, he would throw a marker flare out the window to triangulate his position.”

Click Here for the Entire Story about Jerry Mahan

Gerry Mayhan, 99, holds a photograph of a Clipper airplane, circa 1939, at his home in Los Gatos, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Gerry Mahan, 99, holds a photograph of a Clipper airplane, circa 1939, at his home in Los Gatos, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Captain Mahan flew the Boeing 314 on transpacific flights. The below timetable shows what flights he might have operated:

Captain Bill Nash grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey and lived nearby Bader Field, a small local airport. In a letter, he described how he “hung around the banner flying business hanger, getting in the way, so they put him to work sweeping hanger floors, washing planes, etc. Interested in his enthusiasm, they began putting him in the front cockpit when they flew banners behind the plane just seaward of the beach and boardwalk. The planes were Biplane OX5 Challengers (KR-31 Fairchilds). The pilots taught him to fly so they could watch the girls on the beach.”

Captain Nash went on to Temple University to study to become a teacher and also obtain his pilot’s license through President Roosevelt’s Civilian Pilot Training Program. After graduating from Temple, he decided he preferred flying and applied for a job at Pan American. He was hired in 1942 and was assigned as a Fourth Officer in the Boeing 314 flying boat. After successful completion of training, Captain Nash was where he wanted to be, flying for an “international airline out of Pan Am’s Marine Base in New York to Europe.”

Captain Nash flew flying boats in support of the war effort during World War II and at war’s end, when Pan Am phased out the flying boats, he progressed to the DC-3s, the DC-4s, the Constellations, the DC-6s and the DC-7s. Eventually he was flying jets, and during his last fifteen years with Pan American, he was based in Berlin, flying Pan American’s Internal German Services, and, “keeping the corridors to Berlin Open”.

Speaking of his flying boat days, Captain Nash said, “[t]o me, experiencing this phase of early commercial aviation was one of the best times of my life. Having had the opportunity to be part of a Boeing 314 crew was an outstanding adventure for a young man, and I still recall it well. . . , and thrill to the memories of that great aircraft and the exciting era of world history, all made possible by my years with Pan Am.”

Nash retired in 1977. One son, Bill Nash, Jr., is also a pilot.

Captain Bill Nash (Courtesy Bill Nash)

Captain Nash flew the Boeing 314 on transatlantic flights. The below timetable shows what flights he might have operated at the end of World War II:

In his story “Skygods”, featured in Pan American World Airways – Aviation History through the Words of its People, writer Bob Gandt recalls his experiences with the Skygods he encountered early in his career with Pan American. Below are excerpts from his story:

“’Back in the Boat Days. . .’”

“That was an expression we heard a lot during our pilot indoctrination at Pan Am. Whenever an old-timer spoke of an event that happened in the first half of Pan Am’s existence, his voice would take on a reverential tone: ‘Things were different in the Boat Days, you know. Back then we used to. . .’

“Never mind that this was 1965, that Pan Am possessed the largest fleet of commercial jets in the world, or that futuristic craft like the 747, the SST, and even spacecraft were on the drawing board. The Boat Days—the era of the great flying boats like [the S-42], the China Clipper and the majestic Boeing B-314—were the spiritual epicenter of Pan Am’s history. And the high priests of the Boat Days were a generation of legendary airmen we called Skygods.

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“And they were still around. We caught glimpses of them in the big blue Pan Am hangar at the San Francisco airport where we attended classes. Like living artifacts from another age, the lordly airmen could be observed striding down the hallway to attend to their worldly business in the crew scheduling or personnel offices. Their heels clacked like hammers on the marble floor.

“Even their uniforms were distinctive. The gold on their cap visors and the four stripes on their uniform sleeves had a weathered, salt sprayed dullness. The white caps rode atop their graying manes with a windward tilt. In their double-breasted, gold-encrusted Pan Am uniforms they looked like ancient mariners.

“Their trademark was the Look. Skygods squinted at the world over the tops of half-frame spectacles, down the lengths of their leathery noses. Wearing the Look, they would lock their imperious gaze on whatever subspecies happened to warrant their attention.

“Not until a year-and-a-half later, when I was a freshly-qualified Boeing 707 first officer, did I actually fly with one of these legendary captains. He was a Skygod of monumental reputation, a man whom I’ll call Jim Howland, and we were scheduled to operate a Pan Am round-the-world flight. The experience would stay seared in my memory for the rest of my career.

“It started off badly. When I introduced myself at check in, Captain Howland ignored my outstretched hand. After a perfunctory glance over his half-frames—the Look—he turned his back and busied himself with paperwork. In the cockpit his only utterances came in the form of terse commands: ‘Read the check list,’ ‘Get the clearance,’ ‘Gear up.’ My half of the exchange was limited to ‘Yes, sir.’

“So it went for the next few days —the Skygod issuing commands, the lowly first officer complying. It was impossible to tell whether Howland was pleased or disgusted with my performance. His expression never changed. Nor did the monosyllabic stream of orders. He made every take off and landing, sharing none of the flying duties with his first officer.

“This condition lasted until we reached the Middle East. It was then, while we were in our descent toward Beirut airport, that history and geopolitics converged on us like a perfect storm. ‘Clipper One,’ called the air traffic controller, his voice an octave higher than before, ‘be advised that this region is in a state of war. Airports in every country are reporting air attacks. What are your intentions?’

“Intentions? I looked at the captain. He appeared to be deep in thought, his eyes fixed on the hazy brown desert-scape ahead of us. The controller sounded flustered, and so did the Pan Am operations agent on the ground in Beirut. No one knew what was going on or where we should go. The controller offered the opinion that since Beirut airport didn’t seem to be under attack at the moment, it was probably safe to land. Probably.

“At this the captain’s eyeballs bulged, and he rose to full Skygodly stature. ‘To hell with that idiot,’ he thundered. ‘Tell him we’re not landing in Beirut.’

“’Yes, sir, but where do you want to—’

“’We’re going to Tehran.’”

“Tehran? Ooookay. The Skygod had spoken, and it didn’t matter what air traffic control or our man in Beirut had to say. Clipper One was headed for Tehran. The problem was, getting a clearance to there—or anywhere else—wasn’t possible. The en- route frequency had become a bedlam of hysterical chatter about airports being bombed, fighters in the air, warning shots fired.

“Off we went, eastward over the desert, while the relief pilot and I re-calculated our fuel and pored over the charts and tried to get clearance through the airspace. We encountered no fighters, no one tried to shoot us down, and somewhere along the way I actually obtained an airways clearance. When we landed in Teheran and deplaned our 120 passengers, we learned that we had just experienced Day One of what would be the Six Day Arab-Israeli War of 1967 .

“That night the captain invited me to join him for a drink. For the first time I observed a softening of the fearsome Skygodly countenance. Peering over his half-frames, he raised his glass and spoke words that would stay with me for the next half century. ‘You know something, kid? You did good today.’

“I was speechless. You did good today. Coming from a Skygod, it was like an accolade from the Almighty.

“Thereafter, for the remainder of our trip around the planet, Howland actually shared the take offs and landings. And he talked. In quiet moments high over the ocean, he recalled adventures from the Boat Days when ships like the China Clipper ruled the skies. They were exotic stories, and it didn’t matter to me that they might be a bit embellished. I listened like a kid hearing fairy tales.

“Over the next couple of years I flew with more of these ancient pelicans, and while the experience was seldom heartwarming, I always had the sense of being connected to a slice of history. The era of the Skygods spanned a time from fabric-and-wood mail planes, through the glamour-filled Boat Days, through WWII and the arrival of long-range landplanes, all the way to the jet age. They had seen it all.

In his book Skygods – The Fall of Pan Am, Gandt recalls how the newly hired pilots would watch the Skygods with awe. “Like everything else”, he said, “they knew these ancients had practically invented aviation. Back in the boat days, these heroes had braved a thousand storms, alighted on mountainous seascapes, flown over the vastness of great oceans.” They were the Masters of the Ocean Flying Boats. They also played a part in setting the operational standards that governed Pan American’s pilots in the Jet Age.

In the early days of Pan American’s flying boat operations, much of the procedures and standards that were established were the product of Andre Priester, a Dutchman hired to oversee Pan American’s flight operations. According to Gandt:

“As chief engineer, Priester was given autonomy over all Pan Am’s flying hardware. * * * [H]e stamped the airline with his own ethic of hard-nosed, conservative, meticulously planned operations. It was Priester who laid down the specifications for each of Pan Am’s new flying boats. He plotted new routes and wrote operations manuals and calculated aircraft performance. Priester invented Pan Am’s operational philosophy.”

Priester was a hands-on chief engineer. He was omnipresent and seemed to be everywhere, snooping, inspecting and asking questions. And, as noted by Gandt, “[t]he pilots feared Priester. They resented his uncompromising, perfectionist attitude. But in their secret hearts they took pride in what he made them accomplish.”

The standards set by Priester and the Skygods he trained transcended to the generations of Pan American pilots who followed. The pilots who were hired in the mid-1960s, who were known as the “New Hires”, a name that stuck with them throughout their careers, helped bring the art of piloting to the highest levels. To the current generation of airline pilots, they are the Skygods of today.

Robert Gandt (above left), a former Pan Am captain, was based in San Francisco, Berlin, Hong Kong, and New York during his twenty-six-year career. He is a novelist, historian, and the author of thirteen books. In 2011 he received the Samuel Ellliot Morison Award for Naval Literature by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States. Still flying today, he is a member of the Redhawks Aerobatic Team (above right). Visit his website at www.Gandt.com.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Another excellent book is Pan Am – Personal Tributes to a Global Aviation Pioneer, which was published to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Pan Am’s founding. It contains more than 80 stories written by former Pan Am employees and international media friends who had personal experience with many of Pan Am’s key events during its history. It is the perfect companion to Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition and can be purchased on Amazon.

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, andre priester, Aviation, Bill Nash, Boeing, Boeing 314, China Clipper, flying boats, Gerry Mahan, Masters of Ocean Flying Boats, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, pan am pilots, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, Pan American World Airways pilots, Skygod, World War II

Pan Am Series – Part XLVII: The Douglas DC-3

15 January 2015 2 Comments

The Douglas DC-3

Ron Davies, who authored Pan Am – An Airline and its Aircraft, described the Douglas DC-3 as “The Old Indestructible” that “has more nearly approached immortality than any other aircraft, military or civil.” This is no exaggeration. Since before World War II, more than 13,000 were built, and many are still flying today, some nearly 70 years old. The type has never been grounded.

Some History

The DC-3 was the culmination of a development effort that began with a request from Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) to the Douglas Aircraft Company to design and build an aircraft to allow TWA to compete with United Airlines, who was starting service with the new Boeing 247. The request was made because Boeing, due to its close association with United, was unable to sell to TWA or any other airline until United’s order for 60 aircraft had been filled. At the time, the 247 was the most advanced aircraft on the market, indeed it was the “first modern airliner”. It was an all-metal airplane with two NACA-cowled Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, giving it speeds in excess of 165 mph. It had a gyro panel for instrument flying, an autopilot, pneumatically operated de-icing equipment, a variable-pitch propeller and retractable landing gear. Jack Frye, TWA’s vice-president of operations wanted an airliner that was ten percent better than the 247 in speed, range, size and airfield performance. From these requirements came the Douglas Commercial Model One (DC-1). Only one was built, as the designers quickly realized that a simple modification would allow for two extra seats, leading to the DC-2 in 1934. The DC-2 was a success and it stopped sales of the 247 to all airlines except United.

Although Pan American did not participate in the initial introduction of either the Boeing 247 or the DC-2, the airline did order eighteen DC-2’s that were deployed entirely on the routes of its associate companies China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), Mexicana and Panagra.

United Airlines’ Boeing 247 (SDASM Archives)

The DC-3 was developed after American Airlines CEO C.R. Smith persuaded Douglas to design a sleeper aircraft based on the DC-2 to replace American’s Curtiss Condor II biplanes. Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith signaled his intent to purchase twenty aircraft. The new aircraft was engineered by a team led by chief engineer Arthur E. Raymond and the prototype DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) first flew on 17 December 1935. A version with 21 seats instead of the 14-16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3. There was no prototype DC-3; the first DC-3 built followed seven DSTs off the production line and was delivered to American, which inaugurated passenger service in 1936. American, along with United, TWA and Eastern, eventually ordered over 400 aircraft of this type. These fleets paved the way for the modern American air travel industry quickly replacing trains as the favored means of long-distance travel across the United States.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was the first foreign air carrier to receive the DC-3, delivered in 1936 and used on its Amsterdam-Sydney route, via Batavia (now Jakarta). At the time, it was the longest scheduled route in the world.

The first airline in Latin America to use the DC-3 was Cubana de Aviación. The aircraft was first deployed in domestic operations and later used to inaugurate its first scheduled international service from Havana to Miami in 1945.

Top: American Airlines DC-3 (Jon Proctor)(left) and KLM DC-3 (RuthAS)(right). Above: Cubana DC-3 (Pichs Collection).

Pan American and the DC-3

Pan American’s Juan Trippe, according to Davies, was in no hurry to follow American Airlines in ordering the DC-3. Douglas had already received orders from the U.S. domestic airlines and from four European airlines before Pan American, with its associate Panagra, joined the queue.

However, says Davies, “[Pan American] soon made up for lost time. After the first one was delivered on 1 October 1937, eight more were added to the fleet before the end of the year, and two more in 1939. These were powered by the popular Wright Cyclone engine, as were most of the early production DSTs (Douglas Sleeper Transports) and DC-3s, but thereafter, the Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engines were preferred.”

Pan American DC-3 at Santo Domingo (Dax M Roman photo)

Pan American deployed the DC-3 on its important Miami-Buenos Aires route as shown in the September 1939 Latin America timetable below.

Wartime Production and Post-War Deployment

With the onset of World War II, Douglas switched to wartime production and the C-47 and C-53 military versions were developed. By the end of the war, over 10,000 had been built at Douglas’ Santa Monica, California, Long Beach, California, and Oklahoma City plants.

Overseas some were built by Fokker and 487 Mitsubishi Kinsei-engined aircraft were built by Showa and Nakajima in Japan as the L2D Type 0 transport. In the Soviet Union, 4,937 were built under license as the Lisunov Li-2.

After the war, according to Davies, “Pan American did something it had never done before: it bought second-hand aircraft – DC-3s. No doubt its engineering staff ensured that it had the cream of the crop of war surplus C-47s, C-53s, and other varieties of the basic breed, but the fact of the matter was that even Pan American could not pass up the opportunity to acquire perfectly serviceable workhorse airliners for about $5000-$8000 each.”

Pan American’s post-war DC-3 operations were primarily in Latin America and Europe as shown in the timetables below. By 1948, however, DC-4’s and Constellations were being delivered to Pan American’s fleet, replacing the DC-3 on key routes.

Into the 1950’s the liveries of the likes of Avianca, Cubana, Mexicana and Panagra became more evident on the DC-3 in Latin America as Pan American eventually phased out the aircraft from it own fleet. The timetable examples below show the DC-3 deployment by Pan American’s affiliates:

In sum, for Pan American, the DC-3 was an important aircraft on many Latin American routes operated by its affiliates and was a prominent fixture well into the late 1950’s and even the early 1960’s. Said Davies, “[i]t is sufficient to state that Pan American and its cohorts probably owned, at one time or another, about 90 DC-3s, including ex-military conversions, and that is a substantial number, by any standards.”

DC-3 in “Blue Ball” Livery

Still Flying

Today, a restored DC-3, named Clipper Tabitha May is, according to its Facebook Page “dedicated to honoring the history of the Douglas Aircraft Corporation and Pan American World Airways. [The owners and operators] hope that seeing this magnificent, restored airliner will ignite the imagination of young visitors while encouraging others to share their memories and experiences of two iconic American aviation companies.”

Clipper Tabitha May-4

Clipper Tabitha May-1

Photos of Clipper Tabitha May from her Facebook Page. The bottom pictures were taken during a recent trip to Cambridge-Dorchester (Maryland) Airport (KCGE). She was seen that day flying over the River Marsh Golf Club of the Cambridge Hyatt Regency.

See more about Clipper Tabitha May on her Facebook Page: Clipper Tabitha May

The DC-3 may not have had the glamour or fame of Pan American’s more prominent airliners, but she was a workhorse and fulfilled vital air transportation needs along Pan American’s Latin America routes during World War II and after. For this, she will be remembered.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with aircraft history, Airline History, C-53. C-47, DC-3, Donald Douglas, Douglas Aircraft, Douglas DC-3, Juan Trippe, PAA, Pan Am, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American Airways System, Ron Davies

Pan Am Series – Part XL: Round-the-World Flight

29 June 2014 10 Comments

Pan American’s Round-the-World Services

John T. McCoy’s painting of Clipper America arriving at San Francisco, completing the first commercial airline round-the-world flight, 29 June 1947.

Setting the Stage

With the Fifth Freedom rights granted by Britain in the Bermuda Agreement of 1946, the United States obtained the authority for its international air carriers to pick up passengers in Britain (and in British colonies such as India and Hong Kong) to beyond points in Europe and Asia. What this meant was that Pan American would be able to launch a “round-the-world” service.

At the time, with World War II ended, the U.S. international air transportation system was taking on a whole new complexion. Prior to the war, Pan American Airways was the de facto U.S. flag international air carrier. This was achieved largely by Juan Trippe’s ability to (1) win Foreign Air Mail contracts and (2) negotiate landing concessions with countries of interest. This worked very well in Latin America because for all intents and purposes, Pan American’s activities in the region were in line with the U.S. desire to keep the Germans from establishing any presence there.

With the end of the war, however, as a result of their support to the war effort, the Civil Aeronautics Board awarded the likes of TWA, Northwest, United and American Export (AOA, later acquired by Pan American) international routes, much to the chagrin of Pan American. Juan Trippe had fought tooth-and-nail to be the designated U.S. flag international carrier (the “Chosen Instrument”), but was thwarted along the way by politicians and his competition. This story and its political intrigue is covered in detail in The Chosen Instrument, by Marylin Bender and Selig Alschul and An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, by Robert Daley.

Nevertheless, Pan American had the beyond authority as granted in the Bermuda Agreement and on 17 June 1947, Juan Trippe departed on the inauguration of Pan American Airways’ round-the-world service, the first for a scheduled commercial airline.

The aircraft used was a Lockheed Constellation model 749, Clipper America, powered by four 2.200-horsepower Wright engines, with a cruising speed of 260 miles per hour and a pressurization system that permitted flying at altitudes between 18,000-20,000 feet.

Clipper America departed from New York’s LaGuardia airport and stopped in Gander, Shannon, London, Istanbul, Dhahran, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok, Manila, Shanghai, Tokyo, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, Honolulu, San Francisco and Chicago, arriving back in New York on 30 June. The journey entailed 22,170 miles. Not having domestic authority, the flight between San Francisco and New York was a “ferry-flight” and thereafter all of Pan American’s round-the-world flights departed from one coast of the U.S. and terminated on the other.

The round-the-world service was a fixture in Pan American’s timetables from then on, until the final round-the-world flight in October, 1982. During this time, the iconic round-the-world flights 1 and 2 represented the summit of Pan American’s power and glory.

Pan American’s Round-the-World Schedules

Below are descriptions of Pan American’s round-the-world service from selected timetables over the years. While a variety of flight numbers operated on the route, flights 1 and 2 were a constant and are focused on here.

Initially the Constellation and the DC-4 were employed in the round-the-world service, as shown in the June 1948 timetable. On the eastbound flight 2, the Constellation operated from New York to Calcutta and handed over to the DC-4 to continue the route to San Francisco. In the timetable, flight 2 departed New York on Saturday and arrived in Calcutta the following Tuesday, with stops in Gander, London, Brussels, Istanbul, Damascus, Karachi and Delhi. Flight 2 continued its journey to San Francisco, departing Wednesday evening and arriving in San Francisco on Thursday with stops Bangkok, Shanghai, Tokyo, Wake Island and Honolulu. The flight gained a day crossing the International Date Line between Wake Island and Honolulu. The DC-4 from Calcutta featured “Sleeperette Service”, specially reclining seats with “curtained privacy”.

Constellation-1

Constellation (left, source unknown) and DC-4 (right, PAA postcard).

By 1952, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (“Strato Clipper”) was deployed into the service as illustrated in the April 1952 timetable. The westbound flight 1, a Strato Clipper, departed San Francisco on Tuesdays and Thursdays, arriving at Manila on Thursdays and Sundays with stops in Honolulu, Wake Island and Guam. The flight lost Wednesday when crossing the International Date Line. From Honolulu, “Sleeperette Service” was offered. Flight 1 changed gauge at Manila to a DC-4, leaving on Fridays and Mondays for Hong Kong, where a Constellation took over on Mondays for London via Bangkok, Calcutta, Delhi, Karachi, Basra, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Brussels. The flight arrived in London on Wednesday morning where flight 1 was paired with flight 101 for New York with a Strato Clipper. There were optional fuel stops in Shannon or Gander on this segment.

“Strato Clipper” (right, PAA photograph).

By 1954, the Constellation was no longer operating this route and the DC-6B had been introduced, offering “Rainbow” tourist service in addition to the “President” first class service. On the eastbound route, flight 2 was paired with flight 70, a DC-6B offering “Rainbow” service and flight 100, a Strato Clipper offering “President” service, on the New York-London segment. Although the service was offered five days a week, flight two only operated on Mondays. From London, a DC-6B took over and offered both “Rainbow” and “President” service, departing on Tuesday and arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday, with stops in Düsseldorf, Istanbul, Beirut, Karachi, Rangoon and Bangkok. From Hong Kong, flight 2 continued to Tokyo where it laid over until Saturday morning when a Strato Clipper continued the flight to Los Angeles via Wake Island and Honolulu. In addition, from Hong Kong on Thursdays, a DC-4, flight 6, operated to Manila, where a Strato Clipper continued to San Francisco via Guam, Wake Island and Honolulu.

DC-6B (right, PAA photograph).

By 1956, the Super Stratocruiser and the DC-7B were operating in the round-the-world service. In the April 1956 timetable, eastbound flight 2 from New York was paired with flights 100, 102 and 64. Flights 100 and 102 were Super Stratocruisers departing on Sundays for London with the latter stopping in Boston and Shannon. Both flights arrived in London on Monday and connected to flight 2, a DC-6B, which departed on Tuesday for Tokyo via Frankfurt, Istanbul, Beirut (receiving traffic from flight 64), Karachi, Rangoon, Bangkok and Hong Kong. At Tokyo, a Strato Clipper took over for the remainder of the trip to Seattle with stops in Wake Island, Honolulu and Portland. Flight 64 was a DC-7B that operated from New York to Beirut where it connected with flight 2. The intermediate stops were Shannon, Paris and Rome. In this timetable, Pan American offered a daily round-the-world service with different flight numbers. With the exception of the service described above, the eastbound flights all terminated in San Francisco.

Super Stratocruiser (left, credit R.A. Scholefield Collection) and DC-7B (right, PAA photograph).

By 1959, the DC-7C and the Boeing 707-121 were seen in the round-the-world service. In the April 1959 timetable, westbound flight 1 operated on Saturdays with a DC-7C from San Francisco to Tokyo with stops in Honolulu and Wake Island. Flight 805, also a DC-7C, operated on Saturdays from Los Angeles to Honolulu, where it connected to flight 1. “Sleeperette Service” was available on both segments. Flight 1 arrived in Tokyo on Monday where a Strato Clipper took over for the segment to Hong Kong where the flight was handed over to a DC-6B. This aircraft continued to London with stops in Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. From London a DC-7C took over for the trip to New York, with stops in Shannon and Boston. In Beirut, flight 1 also connected to flight 115, a service to New York via Rome and Paris. From Beirut a DC-6B operated to Rome. From Rome, a Boeing 707-121 operated to Paris and then on to New York.

DC-7C (left, photo by Allan Van Wickler) and Boeing 707-121 (right, photo by Jon Proctor) at New York.

By 1966, the Boeing 707 and DC-8 were operating a daily all-jet round-the-world service. On Sundays, flight 2 departed New York in the evening and arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday via London, Frankfurt, Vienna, Istanbul, Beirut, Baghdad, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Honolulu. Other stops on the route, depending on the day operated, included Belgrade, Ankara, Tehran, New Delhi, Rangoon and Saigon. By 1971, the Boeing 747 operated flights 1 and 2, between New York and Los Angeles with stops in Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and, depending on the day, New Delhi, Karachi, Tehran or Beirut, and then Istanbul, Frankfurt and London. After the merger with National Airlines, flights 1 and 2 continued in round-the world service between New York and Los Angeles with 747s, with stops in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and, depending on the day, Bangkok, Delhi, Bombay, Karachi or Bahrain, and then Frankfurt and London. The service also added Las Vegas to the route with a change of gauge to a 727 for the flight from/to Los Angeles.

Boeing 707-321 at New York (top left), DC-8-32 at Los Angeles (top right), Boeing 747-121 at Los Angeles (bottom). Photographs by Jon Proctor.

By the end of 1982, Pan American’s iconic round-the-world service was history. Although flights 1 and 2 continued to operate, the service was between New York and London and onward to points on the European continent. With the sale of Pan American’s London Heathrow route to United Airlines, flights 1 and 2 were removed from the timetable.

The last round-the-world flight departed Los Angeles on 27 October 1982. Merle Richmond, who worked in public relations for Pan American, and his two children were passengers on that flight. His memories of that flight, featured in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People are excerpted below:

“They say when French writer Jules Verne wrote Around the World in 80 Days in 1873 it was during a financially difficult time for the classic adventure novelist. Compared to Pan Am’s travails, it was no sweat. He couldn’t have been as financially bad off as Pan Am was over a hundred years later when the airline decided to end its historic Round-the-World Flights One and Two. But whether it was Verne’s novel, which I had read many years earlier, or perhaps Nellie Bly’s 1889 epic 72-day tale which she wrote for her newspaper, the New York World, I was awed by their feat and saw the last Pan Am RTW flights as my final opportunity.

“So it was on a fall evening in 1982 during dinner with my family that I announced that I was going to fly around the world that coming weekend, leaving October 27, 1982, and listened as my 14-year- old daughter Diana quickly asked if she could join me, followed later by my 12-year old son Dwight. Not sure that they understood the magnitude of the undertaking, I explained that the curtailing of Pan Am’s Flights 1 and 2, which had been operating since June 17, 1947, represented surrendering what many considered the most symbolic aspect of the airline. No other airline in the world had previously ever even attempted to make round-the-world service commercially viable. And we would be on the last flight!

“Not only we would be on the final flight, departing Los Angeles that Friday at noon, I told Diana and Dwight that if anybody in recent history had boarded Flight 1 and remained with the plane for the entire duration of the flight until it landed at JFK in New York on Sunday afternoon, I and others I queried, were unaware of such a back-breaking marathon.

“With the advent of jet service in 1958 with the Boeing 707, Pan Am switched departure city of Flight 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Thus the route of the flight would be Los Angeles-Tokyo-Hong Kong-Bangkok- Bombay-Dubai-Istanbul-Frankfurt-London-New York on a Boeing 747.

“And so on Friday, October 28, 1982, with Capt. Carl Wallace in the left hand seat, we joined the world of Verne and Bly. * * * For Diana and Dwight, the RTW trip was an unparalleled emotional and educational experience.

“Some two full days after takeoff in Los Angeles we landed in New York on a brilliant sunny fall day. We had made it in one piece after 56-hours of flying. We had eaten the best airline food in the world (more breakfasts than dinners when you fly west to east). . . [a]nd yes, Diana and Dwight even did some of the homework they brought with them.

“Altogether, 18,647 miles in 39 hours and 30 min. of actual flying time. And who knows how many steaks!!!! Worth every bite!”

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, Boeing, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Boeing 747, DC-4, DC-6, DC-6B, DC-7C, DC-8, Douglas Aircraft, Flight Attendant, flight one, flight two, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Juan Trippe, London, New York, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am round the world flight, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, round the world commercial flight, Round-the world flight, San Francisco, Wake Island

Pan Am Series – Part XXXIX: The S-42

8 June 2014 3 Comments

Sikorsky S- 42 – Drawing by Mike Machat in Pan Am – An Airline and Its Aircraft. Pictured left, Captain Edwin Musick, pilot-in-command of the China Clipper’s historic transpacific crossing, who lost his life in Pago Pago in a deadly fire in a S-42 after a survey flight and initial South Pacific service.

The Airliner that Changed Aviation History

To say that the Sikorsky S-42 is the “Airliner that Changed Aviation History” undoubtedly will spark debate. However, its role with Pan American World Airways presents a very strong case. Indeed, in Pan Am – An Airline and Its Aircraft, author Ron Davies noted that it [was an] airliner . . . whose effects and influence on the world of air transport were more immediate”, compared to the DC-2, which went into service about the same time. First, the airliner epitomized Juan Trippe’s “Nautical Airline” (see Pan Am Series Part V, “The ‘Nautical Airline'”). Secondly, the airliner was a chess piece in Juan Trippe’s trans-oceanic ambitions. And finally, because of its superior capabilities, the S-42 might have very well sowed the seeds for the Chicago Convention of 1944, which created the political environment and regulatory scheme under which all airlines operate today.

The Aircraft

On 19 November 1931, on board a Sikorsky S-40 flying boat during lunchtime, pilot Charles Lindbergh turned the controls over to Basil Rowe and went aft into the passenger cabin to sit down next to the most important passenger on board, Igor Sikorsky. The meeting between the two would characterize this flight as, according to Robert Daley in An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, “one of the most important flights in the history of aviation”.

What Lindbergh and Sikorsky discussed was “the next step”, according to Daley. What Lindbergh wanted was a “really new airplane, something completely clean in design, with no external bracing, no outriggers, no fuselage hanging from the wing by struts, no engines stuffed amid the struts like wine bottles in a rack. All those struts and bracings only meant wind resistance to Lindbergh, and wind resistance meant loss of range and speed”. Sikorsky countered saying that what Lindbergh wanted was “two steps ahead in development, and Sikorsky wanted to take one step at a time . . . because lives were at stake . . . [and] [t]they could not afford to make mistakes.” Therefore what was the next step? Both men began to work it out while eating lunch. Lindbergh drew something on the menu. The S-42 was conceived.

Juan Trippe, had a similar vision of an aircraft able to span oceans. The new design provided for an increased lifting capacity to carry enough fuel for a 2,500 nautical miles (4,000 km) nonstop flight against a 30 mph (48 km/h) wind, at a cruising speed far in excess of the average operating speed of any flying boat at that time. Based on these requirements, Glenn Martin drew up plans for such an aircraft. However, Sikorsky’s S-42 was to be delivered first, as the Martin M-130 was still almost a year away from completion.

The S-42 made its first flight on 30 March 1934 and, according to Davies, “incorporated many technical refinements such as large wing flaps, extensive flush riveting, engine synchronization indicators (also on the S-40), propeller brakes and automatic carburetors. Its wing loading was higher than any previous airliner and was not exceeded by any other type until 1942, eight years after it went into service. Had it been a land-plane, concrete runways would have been needed at airports (then normally grass, gravel or cinder strips) to support the wheel loads.”

The S-42 could carry a full payload of 32 passengers over a range of 750 nautical miles, permitting non-stop trans-Caribbean flights to Colombia and omission of several en-route points on the Brazil route. Said Davies, the S-42 could “carry almost twice as many passengers as least as fast and twice as far as the DC-3”.

The first S-42 delivered: NC 822M Brazilian Clipper

The “Nautical Airliner”

When in full passenger configuration, the S-42 truly epitomized Juan Trippe’s “Nautical Airline”. The passenger windows were round, like a ship’s portholes and the interior furnishings resembled the trappings of a luxury passenger liner or yacht, as illustrated below:

An advertising brochure also highlighted the nautical nature of the service (below). Note the use of the term “cruises” and depiction of the flight-deck, which appears like the bridge of a ship.

Pan American inaugurated passenger service with the S-42 in 1934, operating out of Miami to Colombia and down the East Coast of South America to Rio de Janeiro (passengers traveling to Buenos Aires were transferred to either a DC-2 or DC-3).

This service continued into the late 1930’s as shown in the September 1939 timetable below:

In 1935, the S-42A entered service, with improved aerodynamics and a slightly longer wingspan. The engines were also upgraded, permitting a longer range. These aircraft were used in the Caribbean and South America.

Sikorsky S-42A (Ed Coates Collection).

In 1936, the long-range S-42B entered service. On 18 June 1937, the Bermuda Clipper inaugurated service between Baltimore and Bermuda. The S-42B also started service to the South Pacific on 23 December 1937. Sadly, however, the service was temporarily suspended when the Samoan Clipper, another S-42B, commanded by Captain Musick, suffered a deadly fire resulting in the death of him and his crew. The S-42B was also used on the Manila-Hong Kong route in 1937 and the Seattle-Juneau route in 1940.

Sikorsky S-42B – Samoan Clipper

Survey Flights

The S-42B, because of its range, was also used extensively on survey routes for Pan American. In 1937, Pan American Clipper III made five survey flights in the Atlantic, originating in New York. The first was a round trip to Shediac, New Brunswick, followed by a round trip to Botwood, Newfoundland. The next two trips were to Southampton, England, via Foynes, Ireland (the northern route). The last trip was the southern route to Southampton via Bermuda, the Azores, Lisbon and Marseilles.

However, the most important of all surveys was the transpacific survey in 1935.

Juan Trippe’s Trans-Oceanic Ambitions

As described in Pan Am Series Part XIV, “Crossing the Pacific”, Juan Trippe initially sought to inaugurate trans-oceanic operations across the Atlantic to England. As it turns out, at least prior to 1937, it was not to be. There were a variety of reasons, largely political, as outlined in “Crossing the Pacific” and described in great detail in Daley’s An American Saga and in The Chosen Instrument, by Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul. One important reason was the S-42, then the most advanced aircraft in the world. According to Bob Gandt in China Clipper, the British had nothing approaching the technical superiority of the S-42. And that superiority for all intents and purposes, blocked Pan American from inaugurating transatlantic service to the United Kingdom. The British would not let the United States (Pan American) display its technical superiority until they (the British) had an aircraft of similar capabilities.

The S-42, however, was not the aircraft designed for transpacific flight. It was designed for the Atlantic, with “its British-held stepping stones”, according to Bender and Altschul. With thirty-two passengers, a crew of five and 2500 pounds of mail and cargo, the S-42 could make 1,250 nautical miles; not enough for the Pacific.

Unfortunately, the Martin M-130, slated for Pacific duty, was not yet ready for delivery, and Juan Trippe wanted to start operations in the Pacific “now”. It was thus decided to use the S-42 for the survey flights, and NC 823M, the West Indies Clipper was sent back to the factory, stripped of its interior and fitted with extra fuel tanks to give it a range of 3000 nautical miles. The airliner, renamed Pan American Clipper, flew off to San Francisco for its historic assignment. The critical element of the assignment was flying the California-Hawaii sector, which, according to Davies, “was and still is the longest significant air route segment in the whole world. Any aircraft that could perform adequately on this critical leg could fly any commercial overseas route”. The Pan American Clipper accomplished this.

Clipper_NC_823M_S-42 Nick grant adventures com

S-42 NC 823M Pan American Clipper over the yet to be completed Bay Bridge in San Francisco (nickgrantadventures.com).

The British finally developed an airliner that could compete with the S-42, the Shorts S.23. With that, the door was opened to Pan American for Atlantic services on which the S-42B conducted the survey flights, detailed above. Atlantic services were inaugurated in 1939 with the Boeing 314.

S-42 NC 16734, Pan American Clipper II/Samoan Clipper and Shorts 23 in Auckland

Sowed the Seeds for Chicago?

While it might be considered an overstatement to claim the S-42 sowed the seeds for the Chicago Convention of 1944, it should be remembered that because of its superiority, the British balked at allowing Juan Trippe access to the United Kingdom during the early 1930s. As mentioned above, the British were not going to let the United States (Pan American) display its superiority in air transportation on its soil until they had an aircraft of similar capabilities.

Another important point is that Juan Trippe was doing the negotiating for the landing concessions (as he had done in the past). In this case, he was dealing with Imperial Airways (the predecessor of BOAC and British Airways), which was a creature of its own government as opposed to a private enterprise, as was Pan American. In a sense, Trippe was negotiating with the British government. And this prompted the question from the British as to why the U.S. government was not doing the bidding for Pan American. This opened the door to U.S. government involvement in negotiating with foreign governments for landing rights, ending Juan Trippe’s role as a “shadow foreign minister for aviation”. Government-to-government negotiations for landing rights became U.S. policy toward the end of World War II.

As the war was winding down,there was no doubt that the United States was by far the strongest aviation power in the world, prompting significant worries from the British. This could have been made possible by an agreement between the U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill during the war, whereby the U.S. would focus on development of long-range bombers and transports while the Allies focused on fighters and light bombers. As a result, at the end of the War, the U.S. had a decided advantage in capacity and range. What the British had, however, was control of one end of a large number of international journeys, something of great interest to Pan American, who had visions of operating flights to the European continent and Asia. Nevertheless, the U.S. was in a position similar to the proverbial elephant, who, while dancing through a chicken yard, cried, “everyone for himself!”

As the war was winding down it became increasingly clear that a meeting be held to resolve issues of international aviation and most importantly the issues between the U.S. and the British. Eventually, the U.S. sent out invitations to the Allied Nations and the neutral countries of Europe and Asia to meet in Chicago on 1 November 1944.

And all of this, because of an airliner created during a Pan American flight on the back of a menu by Charles Lindbergh and Igor Sikorsky: The S-42.

As a postscript, it should be noted that at the end of the Chicago Convention, economic issues, largely issues between the U.S. and Britain, were still unresolved. The U.S. (Pan American) wanted authority to pick up passengers in Britain for travel beyond (“beyond rights” as provided for in the 5th Freedom of the Air, promulgated at Chicago) and the British balked. Finally this was resolved with the U.S. (Pan American) getting the coveted beyond rights in the Bermuda Agreement of 1946 an air services agreement between the U.S. and Britain that also became the model for future air services agreements the world over.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Bermuda Clipper, Brazilian Clipper, Charles Lindbergh, Chicago Convention, China Clipper, Edwin Musick, Igor Sikorsky, Imperial Airways, Juan Trippe, Pan Am, Pan Am Captain Ed Musick, Pan Am transatlantic, Pan Am transpacific, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American Clipper, Pan American South America service, Pan American survey flights, Pan American World Airways, Ron Davies, S-42, Samoan Clipper, Sikorsky, Sikorsky S-42

The Pan Am Series – Part XVI: What is Pan Am

27 November 2013 6 Comments

What is Pan Am and Why Should We Care?

Every Thanksgiving millions of Americans take to the air to visit loved ones for what has become a four-day weekend. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest day of the year for airline travel. And the nation’s airlines gear up for the onslaught of passengers at the nation’s airports. For the past twenty-two years one airline has been missing: Pan American World Airways.

For the past 15 weeks this “Pan Am Series” has been written and shared with the purpose of keeping the Pan Am story alive. Many born in the 1980s and later probably don’t remember Pan Am and maybe never ever heard of it. For those who do not know, or know very little, about Pan Am, the words and illustrations below will be an introduction to one of the greatest airlines ever.

Below are two articles: The first from the Pan Am Historical Foundation explaining who is Pan Am and why it is important; and the second, a “from the heart” retrospective on Pan Am logos, symbols and slogans, from a former Pan Am Captain who flew one of the airline’s last flights.

From the Pan Am Historical Foundation:

“For those who flew internationally for business or pleasure before 1991, the words Pan Am will provoke memories that range from a peripheral awareness of an airline that is no more to vivid recollections of an American company that achieved archetypal status as an icon of the 20th century.

“For those in the commercial aviation and air transport industries, Pan Am resonates as the prototypical intercontinental carrier that drew the blueprints and set the foundation for the global air transport system of today. Driven, dominant, fiercely competitive—loved, hated, or envied—the company’s long list of trailblazing firsts is an indelible record of operational achievement. All the while, its corporate identity exuded a sense of style and élan that remains legendary. The Pan Am identity projects a highest standard and its mark stood worldwide above all others.

“For those whose fate depended on a desperate flight to freedom, and to the many more who never boarded an airplane, Pan Am brought the ideals of the nation and the support of a caring world community to the teeming shores of five continents.

“The safety and affordability of air travel today enjoyed by many millions of the world’s mobile society can be traced directly back to Pan Am. The ability of the company leadership in the formative years of air travel to structure such an industry and open its markets, and to move so quickly on multiple fronts of technology, finance, diplomacy, and human resources remains a model of entrepreneurship. The same can be said for its brand of patriotism and service to the national interest in both peacetime and in war.

“Air travel is a complex experience today. Nevertheless, in the industrialized world it has become an entitlement, an expectation that we can be in London one day and in Hong Kong the next. Something only a Jules Verne could imagine a few generations ago. The ancient dream of flight was passed from the grasp of a few intrepid experimenters into the hands of a globe-trotting public via Pan Am in just a few decades.

“A complete corporate history of Pan American World Airways from 1927 to 1991 could fill ten volumes. The following points and milestones, however, are some of the broad brush strokes in the colorful history of this unique company and its lasting significance.

“Pan Am was not “another airline.” In transport by fixed wing aircraft Pan Am had no equal in either domestic or foreign rivalry. First across the Pacific, the Atlantic, and round-the-world with regular scheduled and sustained service.

“It all began in South Florida. While domestic, overland airline development evolved coast-to-coast, the state of aeronautics and geography dictated that of all the world’s continental configurations the ninety-five-mile gap from the extreme tip of the Sunshine State across the Florida Straits to Cuba was just right for attempting a first foray of over water international air service. Furthermore, this location was a natural gateway for linking the Americas and to begin building an aerial network to unify the Western Hemisphere.

“The first principals of Pan Am, its holding company, and subsidiaries were leading experts and visionaries in aeronautics, finance, business, governmental affairs, and international diplomacy. These executives were able to identify and gain access to like minded individuals and foster a culture of competence. The same caliber of recruitment was carried out at the engineering and operational levels. While standard business practices of the day were employed organizationally, close coordination and many cross-over skills kept the pyramid from being overly hierarchical in the early years. Professionalism, from the boardroom to the flight crews and maintenance departments changed the face of the airline business. As things progressed, an esprit de corps evolved best summed up by the catchphrase “Clipper Glory.”

“With European nations leading in aeronautics after WWI and pressing their efforts in scheduled ocean air transport, it was Pan Am that achieved the breakthrough with China Clipper service to Asia propelling the US to the forefront of the air age. Its proprietary radio direction finding technology and long-range, multi-engine aircraft, which it had demanded of manufacturers, set it apart from all other of the world’s fleets.

“This is Pan Am. A unique American enterprise that did so much to define the twentieth century and an entrepreneurial success story that continues to inspire and point the way to what is possible. The story is multi-layered, and while its complexities draw on many disciplines in science, technology, human factors, international relations, and more, they are all connected by a simple idea—the desire to strive for excellence. Such is the legacy.”

From Captain Don Cooper:

Pan Am Logos and Slogans

“Over six decades, Pan American’s magnitude of operation extended to six continents, and included numerous nations and cities and thus established the company as an international icon, second only to Coco Cola. Pan American’s pioneering and technological achievements, along with its passenger innovations projected the company’s image to the forefront of the international travel. As its route system expanded, the quality of service and safety improved, generating public confidence in the company and commercial aviation. Because of these outstanding achievements, Pan American became the premier airline of the world insuring its corporate name, clipper call sign, nautical aircraft themes, logo and slogans to be recognized internationally.

“International maritime law requires all aircraft and ships to display the flag of the country of registry. Pan Am prominently and proudly displayed the American flag, sometimes on the fuselage near the nose and at other times on the tail of the aircraft, which symbolized that Pan Am aircraft, at anytime, anywhere in the world, were the sovereign territory of the United States of America.

“Pan American’s first logo was an arrow piercing a bracketed shield with the letters ‘PAA’ enclosed. From the top of the shield, lines flowed towards the tail giving an impression of an arrow in express flight. In October 1930, [Chief Engineer] Andre Priester ordered a standard theme for all Pan American aircraft, a logo designed with a hemispheric globe underneath a half wing. This logo eventually evolved into a series of three symbols, which were painted on the nose and near the tail of all its aircraft. The first in the series showed the continents of North and South Americas in the center of the globe. In 1944, several changes were made by placing the letters “PAA” on the wing, incorporating grid lines, and rotating the globe to show portions of the western hemisphere. Later, the grid lines were removed. Navy blue became the official color for aircraft livery. In the same period, the slogan “The System of the Flying Clippers” was introduced.

“In 1949, with the introduction of the Boeing 377, called the ‘Stratocruiser’, the airline’s most enduring slogan, ‘World’s Most Experienced Airline,’ was adopted.

“Pan Am’s corporate name changed several times. In 1950, the company’s original name ‘Pan American Airways’ was changed to ‘Pan American World Airways.’ Then on November 1, 1972 the corporate name was changed again to the company’s popular nickname ‘Pan Am.’

“Juan Trippe had an affinity for nautical aspects of mid-nineteenth century clipper ships that were developed in the U.S. These ships were sleek and fast sailing vessels and acquired the name ‘Clipper’ from the way they ‘clipped-off’ their miles, dramatically reducing sailing times between distant ports of call. Sailing to Australia in 1854, Donald McKay’s ‘Sovereign of the Seas’ reported the highest rate of speed, 22 knots, ever achieved by a sailing ship. Clipper ships were built for seasonal trade, where early cargo delivery was paramount. These sleek vessels were ideally suited for low-volume, high profit goods, such as tea, spices, gold, opium from China and wool from Australia. Their cargoes could be spectacular in value.

Donald McKay’s Sovereign of the Seas

“In 1930, Trippe made a corporate decision that all Pan American aircraft would adopt a nautical theme. Airspeed would be calculated in knots, time in bells, aircraft interiors would be nautical and a crew’s tour of duty would be referred to as a watch. All company aircraft would be christened ‘Clippers.’ This tradition continued for the life of the company, with the brand name registered to ensure its exclusive use. On Columbus Day 1931, a Sikorsky S 40, was the first aircraft to bear the name ‘Clipper’. It was christened ‘American Clipper’ by Mrs. Herbert Hoover, the President’s wife. Since the law of Prohibition (18^th Amendment, later repealed) was in effect, a bottle of Caribbean Sea water was used for the christening instead of a bottle of champagne. Pan American Clippers, the ultimate in aviation technology, were the proud symbols of America’s ability to lead the world in the advancements of commercial aviation.

Sikorsky S-40 – “Southern Clipper”

“During this same era, André Priester ordered that cockpit crew members’ uniforms be changed from white trousers and dark blue coats to navy-blue serge uniforms, standard black neck ties and gold wings pinned on the breast of their jackets. These uniforms changes were for all divisions and for certain ground personnel and included the subsidiary companies of Pan American.

” In the summer of 1932, a new uniform insignia was introduced along with standardized pay for all pilots and other employees. Captains received a flat salary of $600 dollar a month. Chief pilots received wings with three stars on a blue bar. Senior pilots wore wings with two stars, co-pilots had one star and junior pilots had none. The title of captain was adopted and implied master of the ship. Originally, crew rank was not indicated on uniforms, but after WW II, four gold braided stripes were added to the sleeves of captain’s uniforms and ‘scrambled eggs’ were placed on hat bills. All other cockpit crew members wore three gold stripes and plain black billed hats.

Stratocruiser painting of interior scene

“Pan American cabin crews were traditionally male stewards or pursers, modeled in function and appearance after stewards of luxury ocean liners. Their uniforms were white shirts, black neck ties, white waist-length jackets and black trousers. Their work was considered to be too arduous for women, but in 1944, this tradition changed. Pan American hired its first seven stewardesses to fly in their Latin America Division from Miami. The following December, the Alaska Division hired one lady, Marcia Black. On September 15, 1945, the Atlantic Division hired a class of stewardesses to be trained for the Boeing 314 Atlantic service. In March 1946, the Pacific Division hired their first stewardesses.

“After World War II, Pan American Airways hired four unique and very special ladies: Marjory Foster-Munn, Ruth Glaser-Wright-Guhse, Barbara Hart-Kennedy and Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Haas-Pfister. During the War, these ladies became members of an elite group called WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Twenty-five thousand ladies applied, 1830 were accepted and took the oath, but only 1074 completed flight training, freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties. Thirty-eight WASP lost their lives in accidents, 11 in training and 27 fulfilling flight duties. As a group, they flew every aircraft in the military inventory, including fighters and bombers and did a myriad of flying jobs. After serving their country as pilots, Pan American denied these four WASPs employment as pilots because of discriminatory polices at the time. So, they hired on as stewardesses.

“In October 1955, Juan Trippe in his typical covert manner, without telling Pan Am employees or other airline executives about what he was up to, started secret talks with aircraft manufactures. He pitted one aircraft manufacture against another for competitive purposes, and brow beat Pratt Whitney, the aircraft engine maker, for more powerful and fuel efficient jet engines. After clandestine negotiations with Douglas and Boeing for new jet aircraft, Trippe decided to have a cocktail party in his Manhattan apartment over looking the East River to celebrate and announce Pan American future plans. His guests, members of IATA executive committee, were having enjoyable time and praising themselves for ordering new turbo-prop Lockheed Electras to replace their outdated propeller aircraft fleets. When someone ask Trippe what Pan Am’s plans were, he announced that Pan Am was going all jet with an order of 24 Douglas DC-8s and 21 Boeing 707s. That announcement had a chilling effect on his guest and ended the party’s upbeat note. Trippe had just forced the jet age upon his competitors and in the process, they would be forced to dump their propeller aircraft at loss. In the following days, airline executives were headed west to the Boeing and Douglas plants to get in line behind Pan American for their new jets.

“What followed was a complete revamp of the Pan Am’s image in preparation for the jet age. In 1955, New York architect Edward Larrabee Barnes was hired as Pan Am’s consultant designer. He and his associate Charles Forberg revamped the image of the company. The most notable changes were the new 1960 terminal building at JFK fashioned after Berlin’s Tempelhof with an overhanging canopy roof and by replacing the traditional half-wing and hemispheric globe logo with a large clean blue globe over-laid with curved parabolic lines to give an impression of an airline without geographic demarcations.

DC-4 at Berlin

“The jet age arrived on October 26, 1958, with Pan Am’s first Boeing 707 inaugural flight from New York to Paris. The jets were an immediate financial success for Pan Am, along with the blue ball, which became one of the world’s most recognized corporate symbols.

John T. McCoy watercolor of the takeoff of Flight 114.

“Because Pan Am was a recognized world icon, which represented America’s greatest; Islam terrorist on December 21, 1988 bombed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland shortly after departing London, killing 269 people. This terrorist action eventually led Pan Am to its demise. On December 4, 1991 Pan Am declared bankruptcy and closed down after sixty-four years of service and the blue ball, along with its patent rights, was sold by court ordered auction for 1.3 million dollars. In order to circumvent the patent issues of the blue ball logo, a new symbol was created for the 2006 Pan Am/Victoria BC reunion by combining the blue ball and the half wing/hemispheric globe logos into one symbol as seen below. The combined logo truly represents Pan Am’s legendary sixty-four year history, which no other airline can match and all Pan am employees should be proud to have been a part of this extraordinary legacy.”

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline History, Airlines, Aviation, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Clipper ships, Clippers, DC-8, jets, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am history, pan am logos, pan am pilots, pan am stewardess, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, stratocruisers

The Pan Am Series – Part XIV: Crossing the Pacific

18 November 2013 2 Comments

Crossing the Pacific – The “Unsung Hero”

On the date 22 November, Pan American World Airways was part of two historic events. The first, in 1935, was the inauguration of trans-Pacific airline service, and the second, in 1963, was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In this installment is the story of the China Clipper, which crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1935; in the next will be the story of Pan Am’s part in the tragic events in Dallas, Texas in 1963.

Whenever there is reference to the first airliner crossing of the Pacific Ocean, invariably it is the Martin M-130 China Clipper that comes to mind. This, event, according to Ron Davies in Pan Am – An Airline and its Aircraft, was “one of the most noteworthy and historic dates in the history of transport”. The Clipper, commanded by Edwin C. Musick, departed San Francisco Friday afternoon, 22 November 1935 and arrived in Manila, Philippines Friday afternoon, 29 November, having stopped in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam along the way. The 8210 mile trip took 59 hours and 48 minutes flying time.

In addition to its historic importance, the event was one of the most publicized ever. Described in detail by Robert Daley in An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, the celebration included lunches, speeches by VIPs and “crowds on the docks, crowds on the rooftops and crowds aboard the extra ferries that had been added on”. In addition the inaugural ceremony was broadcast both in the USA as well as in Europe, South America and the Orient and included speeches by Postmaster General James Farley and Juan Trippe. Trippe concluded matters with the command, “Captain Musick, you have your sailing orders. Cast off and depart for Manila in accordance therewith”. Receptions greeted the Clipper in Honolulu and upon arrival in Manila between two and three hundred thousand Filipinos jammed together along a jetty to welcome the ship. In addition was an enclosure with two thousand prominent guests as well as people in the streets and on rooftops. A flotilla of military fighter planes flew out to escort the Clipper through its splashdown and landing. There followed a reception, banquet and parade. Later, Captain Musick presented a letter from US President Roosevelt to Philippine President Quezon commemorating the flight. It was indeed an important event in aviation history.

China Clipper Send Off.

The Atlantic

Crossing the Pacific, however, was not the original intent of Juan Trippe in his desire to cross an ocean. It was the Atlantic. However the geopolitical situation coupled with technological limitations made that option impossible. The details are spelled out with precision in Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul’s The Chosen instrument. In a nutshell, the path to Europe was through Newfoundland. Unfortunately, negotiations between Juan Trippe, Britain, Canada and Newfoundland in 1932 did not provide the access desired, although some understanding was achieved between Pan American and Britain’s Imperial Airways with regard to traffic rights. Because Newfoundland appeared to be in doubt, Trippe looked south. Unfortunately, the political situation in Portugal made it difficult for Pan American to negotiate for traffic rights there as well. In addition, a survey trip made by Charles Lindbergh in the summer of 1933 brought into question the feasibility of using flying boats for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic service.

What is interesting here, with respect to the negotiations over Newfoundland, is that it was not the American government doing Pan American’s bidding. It was Juan Trippe. And it was Juan Trippe who personally dealt with the governments of Britain, Canada and Newfoundland, following a pattern used when he negotiated traffic rights to countries in Latin America.

The Pacific

Any hope for trans-Atlantic operations, however, was dashed when, in April 1934, the British government demanded reciprocity with the United States over traffic rights. According to Bender and Altschul, the British “[g]overnment pulled the strings for Imperial, and if it viewed Pan American Airways as a similar instrument of national policy, then it would want to settle matters with the United States government.” Juan Trippe had overestimated his diplomatic skills and his “go-it-alone diplomacy” was not working. He admitted that he did not see much future for Pan American in the North Atlantic. In addition, as pointed out by Bob Gandt in China Clipper – The Age of the Great Flying Boats, “[t]he British, in 1934, had nothing like the S-42 or the coming M-130. Until Imperial Airways . . . possessed an airplane that could commence scheduled flights from Britain to the United States, Pan American would find itself blocked from the British crown colonies”.

One point of interest here is that during this time the state-owned flag carriers of several European nations were establishing routes to their own colonies in Asia, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent, all without the need to obtain traffic rights. Privately owned Pan American did not have this luxury in that part of the world.

The focus thus switched to the Pacific. After a “great circle” trans-Pacific route through the north was ruled out due to issues between the United States and the Soviet Union, it was decided to take the route that represented the longest distance between the United States and the Orient: the mid-Pacific.

Here, the issue of traffic rights was not a problem for Pan American. The route involved stops at Honolulu, Midway, Wake and Guam, terminating in Manila, all of which were under U.S. jurisdiction. At Guam and the Philippines, the U.S. Navy had established bases on the pretext of potential confrontation with Japan. Midway was being used by the Navy for war games staged in the area. This left Wake, a tiny island, discovered by Juan Trippe in the New York Public Library, and, according to Daley, “[f]or a brief time – only the blink of an eye as history is measured – it was one of the most famous places in the world”.

Wake Island

The tiny island of Wake, an uninhabited coral atoll, was to become one of the most important way points on the route west to the Orient. It lay over 4000 miles from the U.S. mainland in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and was a minor trophy of the Spanish-American War. Inside was a lagoon with surface water smooth enough to handle landings of flying boats, but the presence of coral heads made landings impossible. Its location, however, made it a critical point for the trans-Pacific flight. Juan Trippe eventually got permission to use the island as a base, and on 27 March 1935, the S.S. North Haven, a cargo ship, sailed west with provisions to set up bases for Pan American at Midway and Wake. At Wake, an entire village was built, including a hotel for passengers en-route to or from the Orient. Everything used in building the base was shipped from the mainland. In addition, a swimmer from Columbia University, Bill Mullahey, who boarded the ship in Honolulu in a swimsuit, straw hat and a surfboard over his shoulder, was brought on board as the one man demolition expert to clear the lagoon for landings. Wherever there was a coral head in the lagoon, he would dive down and place dynamite sticks in holes in the coral heads and attach detonator wires to them. After he surfaced the dynamite was blasted, and afterward he would go down to inspect. The channel to be cleared was one mile long and three hundred yards wide and it took months to clear the channel of several hundred coral heads. His only gear was a pair of marine goggles; fins, face-masks, snorkels and scuba tanks had not yet been invented.

The below illustrations of Wake Island are from Robert Daley’s An American Saga. Shown is the treacherous surf outside the lagoon the workers bringing in gear had to brave, the village and the hotel’s lobby. Because there was no anchorage, the North Haven anchored offshore.

The Aircraft

On 1 October 1932, Pan American placed an order for three Sikorsky S-42s, The aircraft was a product of the joint oversight of Pan American’s Chief Engineer Andre Priester and Charles Lindbergh. What was unique about this aircraft, according to Bob Gandt, was the design of the wing, which gave it greater range and the ability to bear a greater load. By the time Pan American accepted delivery of its first S-42, the aircraft had set several aviation records that made it probably the most advanced airliner in the world. Unfortunately, it was primarily designed for service in Latin America and was not suitable for trans-oceanic passenger operations. The aircraft could only carry six or eight passengers with the required fuel. In Latin American operations, passenger capacity was up two thirty-two.

At the same time, the Martin M-130, a larger aircraft capable of trans-oceanic flight, was on the drawing board. A more advanced airliner than the S-42, Juan Trippe also placed an order for three.

Survey Flights

The M-130 was the intended aircraft for the new trans-Pacific route, however it was not due for delivery until the end of 1935. Survey flights were needed and Juan Trippe would not wait. The West Indies Clipper, an S-42 then being used in Latin America, was selected for the duty. It was renamed the Pan American Clipper and was stripped of all passenger accommodation and fitted with extra fuel tanks, giving it an endurance of 21 1/2 hours and a range of 3000 miles. The key, and most important flight segment of the trans-Pacific trip was California-Honolulu. The ability to fly this critical segment meant there would be no barrier to the eventual establishment of trans-oceanic flight. That was achieved. The Pan American Clipper departed San Francisco on 16 April 1935 for Honolulu and returned on 22 April. On 12 June it surveyed the Honolulu-Midway segment; on 9 August, Midway-Wake; and on 5 October, Wake-Guam. On 24 October, the U.S. Post Office awarded Pan American the trans-Pacific mail contract, the day the Pan American Clipper arrived back in San Francisco from its survey flights across the Pacific.

The two illustrations below are from different sources: On the left is a picture of an S-42 departing San Francisco, presumably on one of the survey flights. It was provided by the late Marcel “Skip” Conrad, Esq., who was an attorney for Oakland International Airport. The picture was on one of the walls in his office. The picture on the right is the S-42 upon arrival in Honolulu on its first survey flight. This was an illustration in Robert Daley’s An American Saga.

China Clipper

The first Martin M-130, China Clipper, was delivered 9 October 1935. On 22 November, China Clipper inaugurated trans-Pacific airline service. The planning and preparation for this service was typical of the efficient organization nurtured by Pan American, and was a manifestation of the high standards demanded of the flying crews. As described by Ron Davies, “… there was a certain inevitability about the event. . . .the planning which went into the preparation for the historic event left no stone unturned, or to be exact, no potentially damaging piece of coral reef unmoved. * * * Pan American Clippers had cut the trans-Pacific travel time from a matter of weeks to a matter of days. The world’s biggest ocean had been conquered. A new age had begun.”

Below is illustrated the cover and the inside page (showing the route map and flight schedules) of Pan Am’s June-August 1940 timetable. Note the flight numbers were 800 and 801 and the aircraft used were either the M-130 or the Boeing 314. Until the sale of its Pacific routes to United in 1986, all Pan Am flight numbers in the Pacific were numbered in the 800’s.

The Unsung Hero

The “Unsung Hero” of Pan American’s historic crossing of the Pacific, Bill Mullahey. Without his bravery in blasting out each coral head in the lagoon of Wake Island, the flying boats could never have landed. He had another role in a later Pan American historic event that occurred after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Daley, An American Saga)

On 22 November 1985, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the historic flight of the China Clipper, Pan American re-enacted the event with a Boeing 747-212B, named China Clipper II. Ann Whyte, who was Manager, Public Relations at the time, was a participant. She tells about her experiences of that flight in the book, Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People. Below is an excerpt from her story:

“The 1935 China Clipper, piloted by Captain Edwin Musick, departed from Alameda and stopped in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam before finally landing in Manila. * * * Our 747 would follow the exact route. The revenue passengers, in addition to many VIPs, were composed of members of our frequent flyers program, others who yearned to be a part of aviation history, and those who wanted a package tour to the Pacific.

China Clipper II (Don Boyd photo, airliners.net)

“Excitement and expectancy were evident at our airport ceremony that included music and speeches. The son of James A. Farley, Postmaster General in 1935, was there. His father had delivered a message from President Franklin Roosevelt, who said, ‘Even at this distance, I thrill to the wonder of it all.’ San Francisco Postmaster Mrs. Mary Brown told us that a special China Clipper international 44-cent stamp had been issued at Treasure Island in February 1985 and that the original flight carried 100,000 letters to the Philippines. Also, 5,000 envelopes which had received philatelic treatment were on board our flight and would get special cancellations at each stop. Flight attendants paraded in the various styles of uniform worn since the early days. We cheered members of our flight crew when they were introduced. It was a festive atmosphere.

“For the 1935 flight, the San Francisco to Hawaii leg was the most dangerous. It took 21 hours for the seaplane to fly over the 2,397 miles of open water. There was no radar, no voice communication. The flight navigator had to climb out of a hatch several times at night to take star sightings with a sextant. Harry R. Canaday, a pioneer captain on board our flight, remembered that in the early days, even with the best equipment available, it was what they called ‘flying by the seat of your pants.’ Shure V. Sigfred, another pioneer captain on board, was astounded by the amount of people and cargo carried on our modern 747. ‘We loaded the ship according to the weather and weighed every ounce,’ he reminisced.

“But on our flight there was a party atmosphere. It took just five hours for us to reach Honolulu. I was eager to see each island for a different reason. I had had the opportunity to look at photographs and read accounts of those early days in the archives. What I saw were pictures of enthusiastic crowds, flowers, song and dance waiting to greet the M-130 crew in Hawaii 50 years ago.

“I could feel the hospitality as soon as we landed. To me, Hawaii signifies music, dancing, singing, fragrant blossoms, romance and exotic fruit. We received a warm Aloha welcome of leis, song and dance. Next we were whisked away to Pearl Harbor where we were honored with a ceremony to dedicate a plaque commemorating 50 years of commercial air service at the location where the original China Clipper landed, Middle Loch, Pearl City Peninsula. That evening, it was thrilling to be part of the reception, testimonial dinner and entertainment at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where our pioneers were recognized and applauded.”

At the other end of the trip, Cass Myers, Regional Director for Sales based in Hong Kong, was involved with the re-enactment of the China Clipper’s historic flight as well. His memories are also included in the above book, and are excerpted below:

“The seats on the flight were marketed commercially and there were many celebrities participating, including author James Michener, an astronaut, and other dignitaries such as Charles Lindbergh’s four grand-sons. The Manila Hotel on Manila Bay was also nearly taken over for the group where two days of fun was planned.

“Two outside factors made this flight re-enactment especially interesting: (1) United Airlines had already purchased Pan Am’s Pacific Division and was scheduled to take over flight operations as United Airlines in early February 1986; and (2) the President and First lady of the Philippines, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, were on their last legs as rulers, both literally and figuratively. In a couple months, the world would know that Imelda Marcos owned 2,000 pairs of shoes.

“Being based at the Pan Am Regional Office in Hong Kong, I was fortunate to be one of the people responsible for the setup on the ground in Manila for the arrival, greeting and hotel transfer for the passengers and all the ceremonies and entertainment that followed.

“The event itself was what was expected and more! The arrival went without a hitch. The Pan Am Country Manager, the late Joe Basso, even managed to locate the same bugler who in 1935 was a Boy Scout and then (at 58 years of age) still had the same bugle and played for the arrival. Needless to say, a great time was had by all but it was, in a way, bittersweet as Pan Am’s presence in the Pacific was rapidly coming to an end.”

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

The writer of this article gratefully acknowledges the four sources liberally used in its preparation:

Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul, The Chosen instrument

Robert Daley, An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire

Ron Davies, Pan Am – An Airline and its Aircraft

Robert Gandt, China Clipper – The Age of the Great Flying Boats

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with andre priester, Atlantic Ocean, Bob Gandt, Charles Lindbergh, China Clipper, Edwin Musick, flying boats, Guam, Hawaii, Honolulu, Imperial Airways, Juan Trippe, Manila, Martin M-130, Midway Island, New Foundland, Ocean flying, PAA, Pacific Ocean, Pan Am, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, Robert Daley, Ron Davies, Sikorsky S-42, transPacific flight, Wake Island

The Pan Am Series – Part V: The “Nautical Airline”

13 September 2013 3 Comments

An American Clipper Ship circa 1870

Pan American World Airways has always been associated with the sea and things nautical. Its aircraft were called “Clippers” and many of the Clipper names had references to the sea, particularly with the Boeing 747 aircraft, which were given names such as Pride of the Sea, Champion of the Seas, Spark of the Ocean, Belle of the Sea, Crest of the Wave and Sovereign of the Seas, to name a few.

How Pan Am became the “Nautical Airline” is centered on Pan Am’s founder, Juan Trippe who dreamed of this idea from the beginning of his venture in establishing an airline. How Pan Am was formed is a story of wheeling and dealing, mergers and acquisitions and financial and political maneuvering that is well documented in the Pan Am literature, including Robert Daley’s An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, Marylin Bender and Selig Alyschul’s The Chosen Instrument and R.E.G. Davies’ Pan Am, An Airline and Its Aircraft.

Suffice to say, however, it is useful to have a little background. In the beginning there were four interested groups, as identified by R.E.G. Davies in Pan Am, An Airline and Its Aircraft. The first group, the Montgomery Group, formed Pan American Airways, Inc. (PAA). It was founded on 14 March 1927 by Air Force Majors “Hap” Arnold, Carl Spaatz and John H. Jouett, later joined by John K. Montgomery and Richard B. Bevier, as a counterbalance to German-owned carrier “SCADTA” (Colombo-German Aerial Transport Co) that had been operating in Colombia since 1920. SCADTA was viewed as a possible German aerial threat to the Panama Canal. Eventually Montgomery petitioned the US government to call for bids on an U.S. airmail contract between Key West and Havana (FAM 4) and won the contract. However, PAA lacked any aircraft to perform the job and did not have landing rights in Cuba. Under the terms of the contract, PAA had to be flying by 19 October 1927.

On 2 June 1927, Juan Trippe formed the Aviation Corporation of America (ACA) (the Trippe Group) with financially powerful and politically well-connected backing, and raised $300,000. On 1 July Reed Chambers and financier Richard Hoyt (the Chambers-Hoyt Group) formed Southeastern Airlines. On 8 July Trippe formed Southern Airlines and on 11 October Southeastern was reincorporated as Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean Airways. Trippe then proposed a merger between these three groups and in doing so played a trump card: He and John A. Hambleton, one of his backers, traveled to Cuba and persuaded the Cuban president to grant landing rights to the Aviation Corporation, making Montgomery’s mail contract useless as a bargaining chip. After much wrangling between the groups, including a meeting on Hoyt’s yacht during which Assistant Postmaster General Irving Grover threatened that if there was no deal he would not be awarding any contract to anyone, the Aviation Corporation of the Americas was formed, operating as Pan American Airways, headed by Juan Trippe. Later the corporation’s name was changed to Pan American Airways.

The deadline of 19 October still loomed, however. A Fokker F-VII aircraft was selected for the operation, but could not be used because Meacham’s Field in Key West was not completed and could not accommodate the aircraft. What transpired was an eleventh hour miracle. Pan American’s representative in Miami learned that a Fairchild FC-2 monoplane was in Key West, sitting out a hurricane threat. The aircraft was owned by West Indian Aerial Express (the Fairchild Group) and a deal was made to charter the aircraft. The pilot was offered $145.50 to carry mail to Havana that had just arrived on the Florida East Coast-Atlantic Coast Line railroads. The hurricane threat disappeared and the trip was made. The rest is history.

On 28 October 1927, the Fokker left Key West on Pan American’s inaugural international flight, carrying 772 lb of mail. On 16 January 1928, the first passenger flight was completed on the same route. And on 28 October 1928, Pan American established its Miami base at Dinner Key.

The First Clipper

In 1931, Pan Am acquired the Sikorsky S-40, the first aircraft that would be designated “Clipper”. This designation came about as a result of Trippe’s fascination with ships and the sea. As a child he had traveled to Europe on Cunard Line ships and this fascination transcended to the idea that Pan Am should be a kind of nautical airline.

RMS Mauretania, a Cunard ship that Juan Trippe might have traveled on to Europe

RMS Mauretania, a Cunard liner that Juan Trippe might have traveled on to Europe.

Along these lines, a maritime culture emerged. Andre Priester, who Trippe had previously hired as chief engineer, dressed the pilots as naval officers with gold wings pinned to their breast pockets. Gold stripes were on the jacket sleeves to show rank. The pilots also wore peaked hats with white covers and a gold strap. And, according to Robert Daley in An American Saga, Priester “forbade [the pilots] to stuff or twist these caps into the dashing, high-peaked shapes so dear to most aviators’ hearts.” These naval trappings according to Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul in The Chosen Instrument “served to set distance between the airline and aviation’s all too proximate history symbolized by the khaki breeches, leather puttees, jacket and helmet of the daredevil flyer. [Pan Am’s] pilots were invested as engineers to whom flying was a scientific business rather than a thrilling escapade.” Pilots underwent a stringent and comprehensive training program and, according to former flying boat and retired captain Bill Nash, were required to have college degrees prior to hiring and to demonstrate proven proficiency prior to promotion in the flight deck. Nash started as a Fourth Officer before rising to Captain.

Sikorsky S-40 – Pictured is the Southern Clipper

When the S-40 made its debut, it was the largest airplane built in the United States. Its maiden voyage on 19 November 1931 was from Miami to the Canal Zone carrying 32 passengers with Charles Lindbergh at the controls and Basil Rowe (formerly with the West Indian Aerial Express) as co-pilot. Igor Sikorsky, who Trippe had earlier brought on board to design an aircraft to Pan Am’s own specifications (the predecessor to the S-40, the S-38) also had some time at the controls.

Trippe named the aircraft the American Clipper. Perhaps inspired by prints of American clipper ships hanging in his home or reaching back to his Maryland ancestry from where these swift sailing ships originated in the shipyards of Baltimore, it was, according to Bender and Altschul “appropriate then, to call the first transport ship designed for international air commerce after those magnificent vessels.” Thereafter, all Pan Am aircraft were to be designated Clippers.

Clipper Pride of the Ocean at London Heathrow Airport

Clipper Dashing Wave at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport

The operation would be in keeping with maritime lore and custom. The pilot was called “captain” and the co-pilot “first officer”. The title “captain” implied master of the ship or chief executive of the flying boat. Speed was calculated in knots (nautical miles per hour), time in bells, and a crew’s tour of duty was a “watch”. In the cabin, according to Daley, “walls and ceilings would be finished in walnut painted in a dark stain, and the fifty passengers would sit in Queen Anne chairs upholstered in blue and orange. The carpet would be blue, and the windows equipped with rope blinds. As aboard any ship, life rings would hang from the walls of the lounge.” The stewards, according to Bender and Altschul, “were modeled in function and appearance after the personnel of luxury ocean liners. Their uniforms were black trousers and white waist-length jackets over white shirts and black neckties. Stewards distributed remedies for airsickness, served refreshments (and in the S-40, prepared hot meals in the galley of the aircraft), pointed out scenic attractions from the windows of the plane and assisted with the red tape of Customs and landing procedures.”

This nautical approach seemed to carry on through the entire existence of Pan Am. The flight deck – bridge – was always on the top deck, as on an ocean liner. This was evident in the flying boats, including the Martin M-130, the China Clipper, the Boeing 314, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and the Boeing 747, with its flight deck on the upper deck of the aircraft.

M-130 – China Clipper

Boeing 314

Boeing 377

The flight deck of the Boeing 314 had the appearance of the bridge of a merchant ship:

The “Bridge” of the Boeing 314

Note the Clipper ship on the forward bulkhead of the Boeing 707:

Interior of Boeing 707 in All-Economy Charter Configuration.

Below, the SS United States and the bridge of a large merchant ship:

SS United States
(photo credit Charles Anderson)

Bridge of a Roll On/Roll Off merchant ship.

The “nautical” feel was also prevalent at Clipper departures, particularly from Dinner Key in Miami during the early years and Pan Am’s Worldport at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in the later years. There was an atmosphere similar to the departure of an ocean liner, with festivity, sense of adventure and anticipation of a voyage to a distant place. The setting at the Worldport, particularly with the evening departures to distant destinations, included passengers and well-wishers gathered at the gate in sight of the Clipper being readied for the long voyage ahead. There was a sense of drama; the type of drama that Juan Trippe probably envisaged for each Clipper departure. The romance of traveling to faraway places was part and parcel of the Pan Am experience.

The nautical element was also featured in many of Pan Am’s printed brochures and posters, as well as on the cover of an annual report.

1958 Annual Report

However, as the years passed, the romance of the “nautical airline” began to wear out. Perhaps Pan Am tried to preserve it with the Boeing 747, but times had changed. The grand ocean liners were soon replaced by cruise ships where passengers were more interested in the on-board entertainment rather than the peaceful environment of the sea (although that can still be experienced on cargo ships). Airline passengers became more interested in getting from A to B at the lowest fare, rather than experiencing the ambiance of a flying ocean liner. Airplanes became more like buses, with the exception of the premium cabins, rather than airships commanding the airways. And the bridge, both on many cruise ships and on the largest passenger aircraft in the world, would no longer be on the topmost deck. The sense of command of the airways and the sea has seemed to disappear, and the bridge, “formerly sacrosanct navigational preserves”, as eloquently described by John Maxtone-Graham in Liners to the Sun, is now simply a functionary in the process of getting passengers from A to B, or in the case of a cruise ship, from A to A via port visits.

On the A-380, the flight deck is located between the main and upper decks:

A-380 - Note location flight deck compared to Boeing 747

A-380 – Note location of the flight deck compared to Boeing 747, pictured above.

And on the newer cruise liners, the bridge is not on the highest deck, as shown here on the Holland America Line’s Eurodam.

MS Eurodam – Note the location of the bridge four decks below the top deck.

Perhaps Pan Am the Nautical Airline was overcome by its own success. One cannot, however, deny that the idea of a nautical airline was a necessary step in the process of shrinking the globe. Now, with today’s technology, it probably is no longer needed. Happily, one tradition of the nautical airline continues: the Pilot-in-Command of an airliner is still the “Captain”.

To learn more about the history of this pioneering airline, click on the title below for preview of

Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline Second Edition.

This book is available on eBay .

Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People, which is available on Amazon.

For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation

Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Cruise Ships, Merchant Marine, Merchant Ships, Ocean Liners, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, carl spaatz, Clipper ships, Clippers, hap arnold, Juan Trippe, Nautical, Nautical Airline, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am history, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, transportation

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

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For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

The Douglas DC-3

Some History

Top: American Airlines DC-3 (Jon Proctor)(left) and KLM DC-3 (RuthAS)(right). Above: Cubana DC-3 (Pichs Collection).

Pan American and the DC-3

Wartime Production and Post-War Deployment

Still Flying

Photos of Clipper Tabitha May from her Facebook Page. The bottom pictures were taken during a recent trip to Cambridge-Dorchester (Maryland) Airport (KCGE). She was seen that day flying over the River Marsh Golf Club of the Cambridge Hyatt Regency.

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

Pan American’s Round-the-World Services

Setting the Stage

Pan American’s Round-the-World Schedules

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

The Airliner that Changed Aviation History

The Aircraft

The “Nautical Airliner”

Survey Flights

Juan Trippe’s Trans-Oceanic Ambitions

Sowed the Seeds for Chicago?

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

What is Pan Am and Why Should We Care?

From the Pan Am Historical Foundation:

From Captain Don Cooper:

For additional information about Pan American World Airways:

Crossing the Pacific – The “Unsung Hero”

The Atlantic

The Pacific

Wake Island

The Aircraft

Survey Flights

China Clipper

The Unsung Hero

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